America First Legal (AFL) sent a letter to Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell last week informing her that her legal analysis stating that AFL cannot represent Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap in his lawsuit against the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) is incorrect.
AFL copied the State Bar of Arizona in its letter, accusing her of violating three attorney ethics rules and demanding she “issue a retraction to all journalists to whom you sent your letter, delete any public posts of the letter, and post a public apology on X and your office’s website acknowledging your mistake.”
AFL sued the MCBOS earlier this month on behalf of Heap due to the supervisors’ refusal to give Heap back parts of his office that were negotiated away last fall by his predecessor, Recorder Stephen Richer and MCBOS. The MCBOS is attempting to get the lawsuit dismissed.
After the lawsuit was filed, Mitchell sent AFL a cease and desist letter demanding it drop their representation of Heap, claiming she controls what legal counsel he is allowed to use.
AFL’s Senior Counsel James Rogers responded, “Your letter made bold claims about your authority while citing to A.R.S. § 11-532(A), but without quoting any of the actual language from the statute. Indeed, nowhere in that statute is there any language conferring on you the authority you claim.”
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